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Turning Customersinto True Fans atA Ballpark of the Future

CASE STORY

Leveraging Customer Data For A Better Gameday Experience

The Jacksonville (Fla.) Jumbo Shrimp are breaking attendance records and giving fans an awesome experience with the help of FIS, which provides modernized payments and processing support for every aspect of the ball club as part of its wider “Ballparks of the Future” initiative. In 2017, FIS was named the official payments and loyalty provider of Minor League Baseball™ (MiLB™).

FIS currently handles all the merchant processing for the Jacksonville Baseball Grounds – upwards of 10,000 transactions a game, on average – as well as provides point-of-sale consoles (including mobile tablets) in the team store and at concession stands around the park. In the team’s back office, FIS works with the accounting department to provide prepaid cards for ad hoc purchases as well as payroll and per diem expenses (both via card) for Jumbo Shrimp players when they’re on the road.

@FISGlobal and @JaxShrimp are breaking records & building the ballpark of the future. #empoweredClients

“It’s about getting to know your customer and fan base better,” says Harold Craw, General Manager of the Jumbo Shrimp. “We were able to look at all this transactional data from our team store, and you know what we saw? Jacksonville is a hat town, people just love baseball hats here.” As a result, the team converted a second wall section in its team store to feature even more baseball hat options.

And it doesn’t stop with merchandise, as the team is using its concessions data to figure out exactly what its fans love to eat and drink at the ballpark, from shrimp po’boys to locally made craft beers.

Ballpark of the Future

Together, FIS and the Jumbo Shrimp are turning the ballpark into a true innovation lab to test new payment technologies and fan experiences. First among the planned additions are the ability to order concessions from your seat via the team’s forthcoming mobile app as well as a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that will extend to businesses beyond the ballpark to engage and reward fans. Successful innovations will then start to make their way to other Minor League ballparks as part of the “Ballparks of the Future” initiative.

FIS is turning one of the corporate suites on the parks top level into an expo to highlight the technologies in use throughout the park.

“I don’t think anybody in our business, on the baseball side, wakes up in the morning, and brushes their teeth and starts shaving, and starts thinking about merchant processing – but the team at FIS does. I know that for sure!”